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In 2012 Shane Barker set out to land a job managing social media for the San Francisco 49ers. He did not have any connections inside the company; he did not even submit his résumé. An avid user of social media since 2005, he used the social-networking tools at his fingertips to try to get the 49ers' attention.

First, Barker visited a Dallas Cowboys training camp and recorded a video of himself rooting for the 49ers in enemy territory, which he then posted to his YouTube channel. In August he published a blog on his personal Web site entitled “San Francisco 49ers Social Media: Why Hire Shane Barker?” in which he included the video and data demonstrating his online influence. He then shared the link to his blog on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.